


we're best friends, right? (duh.)

by PUNK_MENACE



Series: your heart works just fine but it's still broken [1]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: BFFs, Character Study, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Season/Series 03, Slice of Life, Sort Of, Tenderness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, there's not really any spoilers, vaguely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 13:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19210225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PUNK_MENACE/pseuds/PUNK_MENACE
Summary: It's getting cold.  Ellie gets Alec a scarf because he never eats enough.  Alec attempts to handle vulnerability with grace.  It's all very tender.





	we're best friends, right? (duh.)

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short little thing. I've binge-watched Broadchurch in such a short time that when I woke up last night, half-asleep, I was involuntarily thinking in a Scottish accent. 
> 
> FYI I definitely don't ship Alec and Ellie. I think it's a bit compulsory-heteronormative and I value their friendship more than yet another straight ship BUT if you want to use y'alls shipping goggles, I'm not stopping you!

These days it isn't unusual for Ellie and Alec to take a walk along the beach.  Among the turmoil of their job, the darkness gets to be a bit much.  Walking together helps ease the tension.  It's nice to be in each other's company without having to investigate the worst deeds a human can commit.  Today is no different until Ellie stops him and holds something colorful out to him.

 

“I got you a scarf.”

 

Looking out at the ocean, Alec blinks.  He turns and stares at Ellie, blinking again and narrowing his eyes in disbelief.  He'd noticed the bulk in her pocket but hadn't questioned it.  The gift is entirely unexpected.  It isn't his birthday or near enough to Christmas.

 

“What?”

 

“Here,” she says, and firmly deposits a long and soft, red plaid scarf.  “It’s getting cold again and I figured since you wear the same outfit every day that you could use something warm and colorful.”

 

Thumbing the fabric, inwardly admiring the softness of the material, he can smell the same fabric softener that Ellie uses. She must have washed it before giving it to him. Now she can't return it.  It’s a pretty standard scarf – the plaid is almost cliché.  Against the drab and dreary colors of a grey sky, sea, and sand, the red stands out.  It’s as red as red can be.  He’ll pop right out against any scenery in places like these.

 

Ellie’s right, the wind biting at his exposed neck is colder than usual.  It’s probably going to rain this week or the next.

 

“Oh, give me that,” she says, taking it right back out of his hands. 

 

He lets his hands fall to his side and points out, “You didn’t have to.  I’m a big boy, Ellie.”

 

He’s a grown man.  And Ellie is draping the scarf around his neck as though he can’t do it himself.  Just one loop isn’t enough, the scarf still hangs down around his hips, so while he stares down at her hands, she throws it over his neck once more.  Once she’s tidied the two ends of the scarf so that they’re even, Ellie lets go and nods to herself.

 

“In my experience, you don’t take care of yourself very much.  Someone as thin and grumpy as you can’t nearly take the cold, not with how little you eat and sleep.”  Her tone slopes off from good-natured to real concern.  After over three years of working together, he can see Ellie trying to smother the worry in her eyes.

 

He can’t help the smile on his face.  It’s small and feels odd after so long of just not having anything to smile about.  This woman came bustling into his life and fixed him up and asked him day after day if he slept well and here she is wrapping a scarf around his neck because she thinks it’s getting too cold for him.  Alec had been drowning for two years, alone, with a literal broken heart.  Ellie had been there when he’d gotten it fixed up. She'd stuck around afterward, too.

 

“Thank you.”  Alec crosses the bridge she’s built for him and places a hand on her arm.  “Really, Ellie, I appreciate it.”  He lets go and runs his fingers over the scarf again.

 

Ellie’s shoulders lose that degree of stiffness she always gets when it comes to him.  At this point he’s realized it’s not because she hates him but because he legitimately worries her.  It’s weird; people don’t worry about _him_.  They worry about getting him angry because of his penchant to yell and invoke the fear of God in people, or they worry about just having to interact with him. 

 

Alec is quite aware that he can be a right nightmare to deal with.  He sort of feels like he deserves being left alone – loneliness and the sort of peace he has, they go hand in hand.  Those fruit fly type of people stay away from him because they can’t stand how blunt and “impolite” he is, which means he doesn’t have friends.  It also means he doesn’t have to deal with the intricacies of societal norms.  No damn brunch with the mimosas and passive aggressiveness. 

 

Point is, no one really cared about him before Ellie, except for Daisy, of course.  Daisy’s the apple of his eye, the light at the end of the tunnel.  Everything he does is for her. 

 

Ellie is the one that lights the way.  Despite how sharp his edges are, she grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet when it all gets too much.  She takes none of his shit.  Without Ellie, he couldn’t have picked himself up from death’s door during the Latimer case.

 

All of this rushes up to the surface.  He can’t help taking an extra step forward and pulling Ellie into a light hug.  Taking it in stride, she wraps her arms around him and pats his back a couple of times.

 

“Look at you, you old softie.”  She’s warm. 

 

Ellie is so non-threatening when she’s not angry that he always thinks she’s shorter than she really is.  In reality, if he hunches down enough he can put his forehead on her shoulder. She's only a couple inches shorter than him.  Leaning down and not looking her in the eye makes it easier to admit such a sappy, stupid thing.

 

“You’re my best friend,” he says haltingly, heat rising to his face, “You know that, right, Ellie?”  He inhales slowly and feels her hands shift as his ribcage expands.  Alec feels like an actual human for once.  Regular people reinforce their relationships routinely, affirming their bonds through physical affection and verbal reassurance. It can't be that weird. Regardless, he feels like he's going out on a limb.  For some reason, he feels like Ellie is going to back away from him and laugh in his face.

 

Instead, her arms tighten around him and he hears a clear smile in her voice.  “Of course I know, you knob.”

 

He pulls back after a beat.  His face is still hot.  Alec clears his throat and goes back to running his fingers over the scarf. 

 

“Let’s go get lunch.  I’d be failing my best friend if I let you go on all thin and grumpy, eh?”

 

Two years of drowning in isolation, feeling his heart literally break, and he can finally smile twice in one day because of this woman.  He doesn’t exactly know why she’s dealt with him after all this time.  He just knows he can count on Ellie.

 

“Right,” Alec nods.  “Let’s.”

**Author's Note:**

> At this point, I just don't care if it's a bit OOC because I've been taken over by the warm and fuzzy feelings I get from these dumbass BFFs. I think they both deserve some happiness.
> 
> Also YES there's symbolism YES Ellie drags him away from the view of the water, YES Ellie gives him a physical token of their friendship and YES it was almost completely unintentional. I love Alec Hardy's fear of water bc it gives him a weakness.


End file.
